Work Text:
Zarkon is dead.
Zarkon is dead, which means the war is over. After seven years of fighting, of scars, of pain, of fear, of nightmares, of seeing nothing but the telltale blood red behind their eyes that signaled an unspoken rage, the war is over. They can finally go back to earth, to see their families, to let everyone know they aren’t dead, that, maybe they’d almost died too many times to count, but they didn’t, and that’s what counts.
They can finally go home.
xx
The plan is to land their lions near where they found the blue lion, in a cave of similar structure. None of the Paladins like having to land their lions so close to the Garrison, but that desert is somewhere they know they’ll be safe.
After landing, they’ll have to walk into town, which could take around 2 hours, but according to their calendar, it should be winter in Arizona, so it won’t be absolutely awful. Lance suggested taking Allura and Coran with them, so they could experience the home of the people they worked alongside with for years. The Alteans agreed, curious about Earth and it’s customs.
And proceeding getting into a city? They’ll all have to find a way to contact their families.
Lance had his phone with him when they left Earth, and he never got rid of it. All he has to do, to reach his family, is charge his phone some, and call his mom via Facebook Messenger.
Hunk’s solution to contacting his family is simply dropping by Pidge’s house and using a phone of theirs to call.
Shiro, who might seem like the type to want to let his family know he’s back right away, doesn’t want to. He knows where his mom lived, and he knows that when she settled in the house she had, she promised herself she would never move out. Shiro wants to go to her, to hug her, to let her know he’s alive that way.
Keith, at first, had no idea what to do. He thought there was no one on Earth who’d thought him dead, who needed a reassurance that he was not. After consideration, though, he decided he wants to visit his father’s grave. The grave is in Arizona, about an hour out from the Garrison. He could go there once everyone else has contacted their families.
That wouldn’t take forever, though. There would be more time after seeing the grave, and Keith had no idea what to do then.
Shiro had stepped up, seeing the lost look on Keith’s face, and asked him to join him in going back to see his mom and brother. Keith figured that couldn’t be a terrible idea, to meet the family he’d essentially been adopted into by Shiro.
Lance had also offered for Keith to accompany him on his trip to Florida, and eventually Cuba, which had Keith feeling all things warm. He denied, explaining how he wanted to go and meet Shiro’s family, but he told Lance that after that, he’d meet him wherever he was, and Lance could introduce him to his parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and everyone Keith was nothing but happy that Lance was related to.
Pidge is the only one, out of the five of them, who’s family lives in Arizona. With their dad being part of the Garrison, and then their brother, and then themselves, it would be hard to live anywhere else. Pidge would be able to walk to their house after showing Allura and Coran around with the other Paladins.
Speaking of Allura and Coran, they all guessed that the two would need somewhere to stay after arriving on Earth. Everyone volunteered to host them, but they all, at some point, collectively agreed Lance’s house and family would best suit them.
Lance had a big family, and his mom had always been open to making it bigger. When Lance was in 7th grade, his friend lost his home, because his dad was an only parent and wasn’t working, and Lance’s mom had opened her house to him in a heartbeat. Lance was certain she’d be okay with hosting Allura and Coran.
Besides that, Lance probably knew all the best places to show Allura and Coran so they could get a good understanding of Earth and how humans live and what humans do for fun (which isn’t very different from Alteans, really).
xx
With a set plan, they start their journey to Earth on February 13th, not arriving until two days later.
The way there was spent packing up their things, and talking excitedly about their families and friends they’d missed so much, and wondering if they’d even be recognized, after aging seven years. And of course, the two days were spent reminiscing. Reminiscing about the castle, and all the good times they had. All the team bonding exercises, all the game nights, all the times they tried watching Altean movies and not being able to follow a single thing that was happening. Reminiscing the building of relationships that happened in these halls. Reminiscing all their first times that happened here. First time in space for four of them, first time meeting aliens, first battle, first game of something that resembled monopoly, first kiss between Keith and Lance, first near-death experiences.
Four of them had basically grown up here. They were still kids when they left Earth, they’d come to the castle not knowing themselves very well. They came to the castle lacking maturity. And over the past seven years, they all grew, and learned, and filled in missing parts of who they were.
Pidge, who came in as a super smart 14 year old, but one that couldn’t figure out if they were a girl or a boy, spent the first year or two on the castle questioning their gender, and found that they don’t have a gender at all.
Keith arrived as an insecure hothead who didn’t really know how to trust people. He learned control, especially through his lion. He learned how to hold back when he was full of rage, to think, at least a little, before doing something. He learned what it meant to be loved. He learned how to trust, and how to be trusted.
Lance came to the castle with a persona, the Flirty Playboy type, and he spent time on the castle growing into himself, and letting go of the need to show himself as someone different than who he is. He started to figure out his likes and dislikes without pressure from anyone, and that includes who he likes and dislikes romantically, generally. He came out as bi around his third year as a Paladin.
Hunk, upon getting to the castle, had problems he didn’t know were problems at all. He had a tendency to over share, and to expect others to do the same. He’d sometimes snoop in other people’s rooms, looking for anything interesting. While a Paladin, he learned privacy and how to respect it. Along with that, he learned how to cook better, and how to help people through anxiety attacks, and how to know when asking more was unnecessary, and when asking more was essential.
Shiro was an adult when he became a Paladin, but he had missing parts of himself as well. When he started as the Black Paladin, he didn’t know how to be anything but a leader. He didn’t know how to step back when it was needed. He learned how to be flexible, how to take what needs to be done and do it to his best ability, even if it’s not something a leader would do.
Allura learned how to appreciate what she has. After coming out of the healing pod to find everything she had ever known was gone, she could only focus on all that she lost. With the Paladins, she learned that it’s more important to be appreciative of what she has than sorrowful over what she doesn’t, or she could lose all she has as well.
Coran learned how to effectively problem solve. He learned how to improvise solutions when they didn’t have everything they needed, he learned how to bend scientific rules to their advantage, he learned how to negotiate in order to preserve time.
And, along with Keith, all of them learned how to love, and how to be loved. They learned how to be open with each other, how to be close, how to support, how to help each other through the increasingly difficult times they all faced over the past seven years. They all learned compassion, which most of them would argue is the best thing they got out of fighting the war.
xx
This is it. They’re landed on Earth. Everyone has their backpacks with their belongings, and they’re all wearing the Paladin shirts that Lance insisted they make during their last (very last?) trip to the space mall. The door opens, and bit by bit, they see the sunlight, and the clouds, and the mountains, and the sand none of them have stepped foot in for nearly a decade. The clouds they see are grey, the sun only slight, and the sand is wet.
It’s raining.
Lance is the first one out of the castle, and he’s standing there, head up, eyes closed, taking in everything he missed so much.
Everyone else follows him out, smiling, only happy to be back on Earth, and that it’s raining in Arizona, which is a miracle in itself.
They stand for a few minutes, and then decide it’s time to start walking, because it will take them a while to get to the nearest city.
xx
The first big city they come across is Flagstaff, which works for them to get Lance’s phone charged, and for someone to get into their long forgotten bank account so they can rent a car, or take a bus down to Phoenix, where Pidge’s family lives.
They split off, Lance going with Keith and Allura and Coran to the Verizon store to ask to use a phone charger, Shiro and Pidge and Hunk heading to the bank.
The Verizon store, surprisingly, is very nice about everything. The guy helping them gladly supplies Lance with an iPhone charger, and compliments Allura and Coran’s “makeup” before letting them be to wait for Lance’s phone to turn on.
It takes about five minutes for the white screen with the black apple to pop up, and Lance is weirdly nervous, but mostly excited, about his phone turning on. When it does, he’s faced with a picture of him and his siblings from Halloween the year before Lance left for the Garrison. He slides the screen, types in his password (which is his birthday, because he’s clever like that), and is glad to see everything still works. He opens the Messenger app, goes to his chat with his mom, and clicks the call button. Everyone is hovering over Lance, watching the screen, waiting to see if Lance’s mom picks up, and when the screen turns from the call screen to a woman’s face, Keith lays an arm over Lance’s shoulder, and Lance thinks he lets a tear slide down his cheek.
“Mom?”
xx
The bank goes, more or less, without a hitch. The employee had a hard time believing that Shiro was actually Shiro, even despite his matching name on the driver’s license he still had, and his face matching the picture on said license. After he got over the fact that the account hadn’t been opened in almost eight years, he asked Shiro for the pin to his account, and it was all smooth sailing from there. Shiro bought a new credit card, took out $200 cash, and thanked the guy. Shiro walks out of the bank with Pidge and Hunk, satisfied with how it all went.
xx
With money and a working phone, the trip to Phoenix is smooth sailing. They end up taking a bus, because if they rented a car, they’d have to return the car, and who knows when they’d be able to get around to doing that.
When they arrive in Phoenix, their first stop is Pidge’s house. Pidge didn’t know what to expect when they got home, but their dad was still gone. Matt had been found by Voltron a few years back, but he went home after a little while of working with them. They never found Sam.
The reunion between Pidge and their mom is heartwarming, to say the least. When their mom says, “Welcome home, Katie,” Pidge is quick to correct the name, and their mom easily adjusted.
After Hunk used the Holt’s phone to call his family, the Paladins invited the Holts to join them in showing Allura and Coran around the city.
xx
Everyone had a certain destination they wanted to take Allura and Coran to, and they all got the chance to. The first place was a gelato shop, which was Hunk’s proposed destination. After that, they travelled to a small science museum, a county fair, a year-round haunted house, and their last stop was a hill, lit up only by the stars. It was about a half hour away from any town or city, and because of that, it was quiet, it was calm. Keith explained that this hill used to be where he went when he felt alone as a kid. He said that being there would ground him.
Allura and Coran marvelled at everything they saw. They exclaimed how Earth seemed wonderful, how they were excited to see more in Florida with Lance.
xx
Back at the Holt house, everyone takes turns using the computer (and Shiro’s credit card, bless him) to book the nearest flights to where they need to go. Hunk to Oregon, Lance and Allura and Coran to Florida, Shiro and Keith all the way to Japan.
With the city explored, the flights booked, their stories told, everyone is ready to wind down for the night. They all agree to sleep in the living room, for one last night together until who knows when, and even Matt joins them. They settle on saying their farewells before sleep, to save them the tears tomorrow.
xx
Everyone wakes at 5:00 am, with the first flight leaving at 7:45. They all get their things ready, even Keith and Shiro, who don’t leave for another four or five hours. They figure it’s easier to do it now. Lance and Allura and Coran are the first to leave, electing to say “See ya later” instead of “Goodbye.” Hunk is second to leave. Shiro and Keith are last.
After everyone is gone, on their flights, that’s when it finally settles in.
The war is over.